[Use of lasers in therapy of malignant skin tumors]

Malignant tumors of the skin may indicate different therapeutical approaches: Beside conventional surgery and other modalities, including modern methods as cytokines, laser therapy has been successfully introduced as a therapeutical approach. There are many different forms of laser application, not only due to the quality of the tumor but also due to the big number of different lasers and their different biophysical opportunities. The classical domain of laser therapy is the treatment of solar keratosis, mucosal precancerosis, epitheliomatous carcinoma and all benign tumors of the skin. In all the other tumorous entities of the skin, like melanoma and malignant tumors of blood vessels, laser is not the therapy of choice, except when used in a noncurative intention, mostly in combination with other modalities.